User blog:TheToughGuy/Hot Topic: What Is Rockstar's Next Big Game?
Hey guys, welcome to Hot Topic. Now whether this will be a series that I might do from time to time, that's up to whatever topic that I can come up with to talk about. For this topic, I decided on to talk about one of the best game campanies in the world and what their next big game will be. If you read the title, and I'm sure you people did read the title, then you know for a fact that I'm talking about Rockstar Games. What is their next big game? And when will it be released? Before we go deep into that, let's take a good look back at their history 10 years before. Past Game History As you may know, since 2007 Rockstar has always released an average of one to two new games per year. Here are the details. *In October 2007, Rockstar has released Manhunt 2 ''after being modified and censored for an M rating. Despite being released in the same year as the PlayStation 2 port of ''GTA: Vice City Stories, it was still the new game of that year as VCS ''came out a year before for the PlayStation Portable. But compared to the sales of the first game four years prior, it wasn't a successful game. *In 2008, Rockstar has released three new games to their target audience. The first was ''Bully: Scholarship Edition, which wasn't a new game but rather a remake of the 2006 PS2 exclusive. Then Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto IV, which finanically became one of Rockstar's successful games of all time, telling the dark tale of Niko as he searched for the American Dream in the worst city in America. Later that year, the fourth entry of Rockstar's racing series, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, took us to the busy streets of LA. Rockstar later released a port of the game to the PSP. *In 2009, we saw the release of three new GTA ''games, two of them being expansions to ''GTA IV. The first expansion was The Lost And Damned, which told the tale of the Lost biker gang's struggle. The next game in the series was Chinatown Wars, which was a limited-time exclusive to the Nintendo DS before being ported to the PSP. While this game didn't sell as well as Liberty City Stories ''and ''Vice City Stories ''did, it did introduce new ideas to the series that none of the bigger titles did. Lastly was the second and last expansion to ''GTA IV, The Ballad Of Gay Tony. Being the conclusion to what I call the GTA IV ''trilogy, this expansion added new and old features to the already familiar gameplay. *In 2010, Rockstar released what had to be one of their best games of all time. ''Red Dead Redemption, being nothing more than a spiritual successor to Red Dead Revolver, told the tale of John Marston as he went on a journey across the western frontier, hunting down his former partners in crime to save his family. To this day, the game is still acclaimed as one of the best games Rockstar has ever made. And if that wasn't enough, later in the year Rockstar released a story-driven expansion for the game titled Undead Nightmare. This game focused on John Marston looking for a cure after a zombie plaque spreads across the frontier. According to some fans of Rockstar, this espansion is the best one to date. I mean who doesn't like zombies? *While this game wasn't developed by Rockstar, it was still published under their name in 2011. L.A. Noire ''followed the tale of Cole Phelps as he joins the LAPD and cleans up the streets of 1940s LA. This game is known for using MotionScan, which was used on the actors' faces so that whatever facal expression they used while being recorded is the actual movement of their faces in the game. In other words, all the facal movements were actually those that the actors made. Whether we'll see this again in any of their future games or not, that is yet to be determined. *In 2012, Rockstar released the highly anticipated ''Max Payne 3 ''after a four to five year wait. Following the cop who lost his family in the first game and his girlfriend in the second, the game takes players down to Sao Paulo where he gets himself involved in a conspiracy while trying to rescue the wife of his employer. I still have yet to play this game, so I sadly can't give you the details of this game. *In 2013, the highly anticipated ''Grand Theft Auto V ''came out, making one billion dollars in just three days making it the fastest-selling entertainment launch of all time. This was sadly the last new game from Rockstar as they focused on releasing the game on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2014 and the PC in 2015. It was two weeks after ''GTA V ''was released that Rockstar launched ''Grand Theft Auto Online. Ever since, it seemed that Rockstar has been focused on V ''and ''Online. What could be their next game. The question asks it all. It's been nearly three years since we had a new game from them and I'm sure by now that everyone is tired of Grand Theft Auto Online. The fans want a new game and both Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive have been dropping teasers about their next project. So what could it be? Could it be an expansion to GTA V? Well okay, that might not be a major project. But people have been asking for one for quite a while now. People want to continue the story of Michael, Franklin and Trevor. And who could blame them? Two of their biggest games before GTA V ''had story expansions that were treated as major releases. ''Grand Theft Auto IV ''had two story expansions that were well recieved by fans and critics. ''Red Dead Redemption ''had one as well and while it wasn't canon to the events that happened in the main game, ''Undead Nightmare ''was still well a smach hit. It could be possible that a story expansion to ''V ''may be the new game this year. Whether it involves more heists that the trio may have to get involved in or it involves them in a more over-the-top situation like fighting zombies or even aliens, we just have to see what's in store from Rockstar. Could it be ''Red Dead 3? If you guys didn't know, I'll tell you. Red Dead Redemption ''is pretty much ''Red Dead 2 ''since the first game in the series is ''Red Dead Revolver. Anyway, back to the subject. Red Dead Redemption ''is and always will be one of Rockstar's best games. Despite the fact that we've moved on from seventh generation consoles to eighth generation, it is still the one game that's talked about by fans. Because of it's popularity, many fans are speculating that the next game from Rockstar could be ''Red Dead 3, or as some people refer to it as Red Dead Redemption 2. Whatever the case since Rockstar has made westerns popular again (or just the Red Dead ''series), there's no denying that they will eventually make a third game in this series. Could it be ''Bully 2? I don't see why not. There has been a few hints in the past that Rockstar would make a sequel. One of those hints being that Dan Houser, vice president of Rockstar Games, wanted to make it and that he had plenty of funny ideas for the game. That may not be much to go on....or maybe it is, whichever you think. But if Rockstar really are making Bully 2, why not release it or at least announce it on the first game's 10-year anniversary. It's a perfect time to do either one. And honestly, I would love to see Rockstar release Bully 2 ''before a new ''Red Dead ''game. Could it be ''L.A. Noire 2? It could be. Why not? Rockstar bought the rights to the franchise sometime before or after Team Bondi shut its doors forever. While the first game did not have the same amount of freedom like Grand Theft Auto ''or ''Red Dead Redemption does, that wouldn't stop Rockstar from making a sequel and improving what the first game established. That's usually what video game sequels do anyway. And since Rockstar are the masters of storytelling in the entire gaming industry, I'm sure they will cook up a new story with an all new set of interesting characters. And honestly, I would love to see what Rockstar would do for the sequel. Would it be set in the 1940s again? If not, what other time period? The 50s? The 60s? What about 70s? How about the 80s? Okay, I'm just stretching it now. Could it be Agent? If you guys don't know the history of this game, let me tell it to you. Agent ''is suppose to be a PlayStation exclusive stealth action game that was announced at E3 back in 2009. According to Take-Two Interactive, it was meant to be the next ''Grand Theft Auto, implying that they had high hopes for this game. As to why this game was never finished and released, that's beyond me. Now that Take-Two and Rockstar are dropping hints about an all-new game, it could be possible that this game could be the one that will be released this year. I mean how cool would it be to play a game set in the 1970s (I forgot to mention that) where you play as an agent trying to stop soviets from starting a nuclear war? I wish Rockstar would finish it and release it by now. Could it be a completely new game? That could be a possibility that Rockstar's new game could be the start of a new IP (intellectual property). Whether it could be another open-world game like GTA ''or maybe another horror game like ''Manhunt, the possibilities are endless. Of course, I'm sure Rockstar won't be going back to science fiction anytime soon, so the likelihood of a spiritual successor to Oni ''is out of the question. That's if any of you have ever heard of ''Oni ''before. And since Rockstar isn't into fantasy games, I'm sure we would be seeing that kind of stuff from them either. Okay, so possibilities aren't endless on those genres, but they are on other fronts that I can think of. What couldn't be their next game. These are the games that I'm sure aren't going to be made and released anytime soon. This will probably be painful for you to read as much as it is painful for me to write. But please bare with me. It couldn't be ''Grand Theft Auto VI. I personally feel that it's too early for Rockstar to even announce GTA VI, especially given how much money Rockstar is making with Online ''right now. Rumors started spreading across the internet though that the next game in the series will let players travel between cities, however they are rumors and I doubt that the current consoles could handle that. If I had to guess, I think Rockstar must have started development on ''GTA VI ''as soon as the PS4 and Xbox One versions of ''V ''came out, so we probably won't hear anything about this game till 2019 or 2020. And if anything, I believe that ''VI ''will most likely be set back in Vice City, whether back in the 1980s (which would be very f*ucking epic) or set in the modern day, we just have to see in the next three to four years. It couldn't be ''Manhunt 3. As much as it pains me to say it, I doubt that Manhunt 3 ''will ever the light of day. The first game caused so much controversey that it was even blamed for the death of a teenage boy in the UK. It was so controversal that the second game barely even made it to store shelfs before it had to be heavily censored to meet the required M rating. No retail store will sell an Adults Only game on their shelfs. The fact that graphics got progessively good over the years and given how the third entry would look with the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine, parents and politicians would have a good time whipping Rockstar's ass over releasing a very violent game. A bit hypocritical if you ask me given how there are violent films being published every year. So as much as I really want a ''Manhunt 3, I think it's time for me to stop holding my breath for one. It couldn't be Midnight Club 5. Okay maybe it could be, but I'm hoping it isn't. Wrong for me to say, but the fourth game was just a pain in the ass it's unreal. I don't know if Midnight Club: Los Angeles ''was popular back when it was released eight years ago, but if it wasn't then it's pretty understandable as why this game wasn't. As a matter of fact, I don't see anyone ever talking about this game series on the internet anymore. Not on YouTube, not on here. Maybe I'm not looking at the right places, or people just don't care about the franchise anymore. A bit of a shame, especially given how much potential the series had. But then again, I noticed a decline of racing games in throughout the years. That's why there hasn't been a new ''Burnout ''game in years. The major series like ''Need For Speed ''and ''Forza Motorsport ''are the only ones left in the market. Maybe someday, Rockstar will return to this series. But for now, they're probably focused on making much better games right now. It couldn't be ''Max Payne 4. ''Max Payne 3 ''came out in 2012, so I personally feel that it's still alittle too early for a fourth entry to come out this year. Plus if any of you have ever played the series before, but throughout the series Max gained an addiction not just to alcohol but to painkillers as well and by the end of the third game, Max kicked his addictions and went on to live a peaceful life after all he went through. I don't know if a fourth entry could ever pick up where the third game left off, so that means that the series could be done for or that Rockstar could make a reboot to the series. Or better yet, they could remake the first two games, remaster the third and sell them together in a collector set for each new generation of console (who am I kidding, they won't). Those are my ideas what Rockstar could possibly do. But I did admit before that Rockstar were the masters of storytelling, so they could possibly pull off a fourth entry. Only God knows if ''Max Payne 4 ''is possible. What do you guys think? So what do you guys think about what I wrote so far? Is there something that you agree or disagree with? Write it in the comments and let me know what you think. And again, I might do another blog similar to this one in the future. It depends on the subject that I want to discuss. Category:Blog posts